Efficient energy storage and utilization faces many obstacles. Proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells for man-portable power and micro air vehicles require light-weight, small-size, and high-rate hydrogen sources. Commercially available hydrogen sources such as metal hydrides, compressed hydrogen in cylinders, or catalytic waterborohydride hydrogen generators are capable of high rate hydrogen generation, but are heavy and bulky.
While some hydrogen generators are light-weight and have small size, they are incapable of generating hydrogen at a sufficiently high rate for many applications.